Monsters of Baseball?

I was going through some old articles I had bookmarked just in case there were ever a need to show off some cards relating to it and stumbled across a little gem about the Philadelphia Phillies.

Wow, have things changed a lot in 5 years.

Look at this article from 2016.

It discusses how the Phillies will again become a juggernaut in Major League Baseball with a monster payroll supporting home grown stars like Mikael Franco, Odubel Herrera, Jerad Eickoff, Vince Velasquez, and Aaron Nola.  

Well they were right about Nola.

It also mentioned the Phillies flexibility to add talent to the "historic free agent class" of 2018 when guys like Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez will be available along with Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.

The article goes on to talk about their farm system and the expectation of JP Crawford "becoming a star" and Cornelius Randolph being the best prep bat in the previous year's draft.  

It wasn't too long ago that I did a post about the Pirates fall from success and how only 1 player remains with the team that won 98 games in 2015 (Gregory Polanco) and many of their top prospects coming out of that season have all been traded and are no longer a part of the organization (Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, Harold Ramirez, Reese McGuire, Nick Kingham).

Monsters of baseball?

I think not.

Good start to the 2021 season for the Phillies by sweeping by the Braves?  

Yes I think so.

I really like the Bryce Harper card above from 2020 Topps.  I may seek out some of it's parallels to chase.  

To wrap things up I will show 3 cards of Cutch in a Phillies uniform.

2019 Topps Fire Dual Auto with Rhys Hoskins limited to 20 copies

2019 Allen & Ginter Double Rip with Rhys Hoskins limited to 25 copies

2019 Topps Museum bat barrel nameplate 1/1

Each Phillies sweep this year will be followed up with a post featuring Cutch in Phillies gear.  Among the cards posted will be at least 1/1 during each sweep. 

Came through drippin' but not rippin

It's only 18 more nights until Opening Day is upon us.

With that I thought I would show off a card I got last year that I never blogged about.

Allen & Ginter double rip cards have been out for many years.  The concept of the card is almost like a scratch off lottery ticket to the extreme.

A scratch off not already scratched can start at $1.  If scratched and not a winner, it's useless and the value is nothing.  But if it is a winner you can double, triple, quadruple, or get even more value from "taking the risk".

Double Rip unripped cards go for A LOT of money on the secondary market often selling in the range of $150+ depending on the subject material.  A recent sale of Ernie Banks and Kris Bryant was almost $600. 

The double rips are commonly numbered as DRIP-(number) to indicate Double RIP card.

I have shown a few double rips both ripped and unripped on the blog in the past.

To date, this is my only double rip in tact of Cutch in a uniform that isn't a Pirates uniform.  I missed out on the DRIP of him and Posey in 2018.

If the Phillies are hoping to contend in a very competitive NL East this year they will need big (and healthy) seasons from both Rhys Hoskins and Andrew McCutchen.

Hoskins appeared in all of the Phillies games last year and lead the league in walks with 116.  (It should be noted that it took almost a week for Hoskins or anybody for that matter to surpass McCutchen in that category after Cutch's season ending injury.)  Despite those numbers, Hoskins finished the season with only a 1.5WAR and batted a career worse .226 with an OPS of .819 and OPS+ 110.  He had the 6th highest number of strikeouts in the senior circuit and produced the 10th most outs. 

McCutchen was the second best leadoff hitter in baseball at the time of his injury.  His .378 on base percentage made him a perfect option for the Phillies and a great table setter for the team.  Had he not gotten injured and was on pace for 125 runs scored over the season.  That would have placed him 4th in league behind only Betts, Devers, and Acuna.  Without McCutchen setting the table for the rest of the team after his June 3rd injury, the leadoff spot produced only a .295 OBP (29th in league).

A healthy Cutch and bounce back Rhys will go a long way towards the City of Brotherly Love winning a ticket to the Postseason.

In only 18 more days we get actual baseball games.

Allen & Ginter Collection pt3 (rip cards and cards from rips)

As I continue to celebrate the release of Allen and Ginter this week, I will take a look at rip cards and the cards that can be found inside them.

I have previously shown off my complete run of 2016 A&G Metal Minis, but I have a lot more cards from Rip Cards and even have a few Rip cards that I didn't rip yet.

Here are the 2016 metal minis

2017 Wood Mini 1/1

2016 Wood Mini Ext. 1/1

By far the coolest card in my collection from a rip card is an Allen & Ginter Mini mini. These are very unique as they come in mini rip cards found inside rip cards.

Pictured above is the minimini, Mini, and base card.

The Mini Mini is numbered 1/2.

Found inside the rip cards can be extended set cards.  These cards are higher numbered than the base set (often numbered 351-400).  Below you will find my base card next to the SP photo variant extended set card.

2018

2016

2014

2012

Here are some of the rip cards I currently own. First up are the rip cards that I have gotten extremely cheap because they were already ripped.

 The fronts are pictured above with the backs pictured below.  As you can see the McCutchen 2018 solo rip wasn't ripped very good. I think I got it for just a few bucks. The front displays very nicely.

Now for the RIP cards that are still in tact.

 Up first is a double rip of Cutch and Starling Marte numbered to only 10 copies.

From 2017 I have the solo rip card numbered to 50 copies.

This may look familiar as I have a ripped version of this dual rip card of Cutch and Willie Stargell.

I find it odd that they made so many more of these double rips in 2016 than any previous year or years that followed.

My final rip card is another solo act

 It is also numbered to 50 copies.

The cheaper approach

Allen & Ginter is known for their minis, oddball inserts, and diverse  checklist.  To those that bust wax, they are also known for their rip cards.  Included in the rip cards could be special high number short prints, red ink autos, wood or metal minis.  I have unripped cards from last year, but I have started to grab the ripped (with caution) cards as a means to save a lot of money.  My collection has been downsizing a lot and I am only looking to add Cutch and Pittsburgh Hall of Famers going forward.

The double rip of Clemente and Cutch is going for an average of $300 on eBay unripped.  Some have sold for almost $500.  With only 15 copies produced and the allure of pulling an Aaron Judge red ink auto inside still high, trying to get one of these is extremely difficult especially if you don't want to pay a car payment equivalent for an unripped one.  

Lucky for me a ripped copy popped up with a best offer option.  I offered $20 and told the seller of my collection.  A few minutes later it was in my checkout and a day later it was in the mail being shipped.  

I am grateful that I was able to add this card to the collection.  I wonder though what was pulled from it???

I tried reaching out to the seller of the card but never got a response.  

One man's junk is another's treasure

I bought a baseball card that was intentionally ripped in half TWICE!!!!

I own a few rip cards of Cutch, but they are all still sealed.

I wanted to put one in my binder so I bought this double rip Allen & Ginter Stargell/Cutch.
It ran me $10 delivered which seems like a lot for a baseball card that is damaged.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.